Leveraging OPSEC integration, IBM Tivoli Risk Manager automatically correlates security information, provides responses and proactively analyzes the state of the firewall and about 50 other technologies across the enterprise that affect security. The OPSEC certified solution helps companies identify real security threats by reducing the number of redundant security events administrators must analyze and helps reduce administration costs.

"By working together to build interoperable products, IBM and Check Point can help ease the burden our customers have of securing their networks by automating many of an administrator's mundane tasks -- freeing them to focus on higher level projects that will benefit security and the business," said Arvind Krishna, vice president of security products, Tivoli Software, IBM. "Leveraging our partners' expertise, such as Check Point's technology, is crucial for us and for our customers as we develop autonomic, self-protecting security management software."

"We are pleased to extend our partnership with IBM to provide our joint customers with the industry's most comprehensive security management," said Asheem Chandna, vice president of business development and product management for Check Point Software Technologies. "Check Point and IBM are providing best-of-breed, integrated enterprise security management solutions, resulting in cost-effective and easy to manage enterprise deployments."

Check Point VPN-1(R)/FireWall-1(R) Next Generation is also certified as "Ready for Tivoli Software" through IBM's certification process, meaning it has passed rigorous interoperability testing procedures with IBM Tivoli Risk Manager and IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console.

Check Point and IBM plan to develop additional integration projects that will improve management and the total cost of ownership for enterprise security deployments.